Fujitsu’s A.I. for retail harnesses the concept of positive friction to optimize processes, foster engagement, and improve overall satisfaction at three levels: the customer experience, attendant engagement, and the enterprise view.
Fujitsu Frontech North America Inc., a leader in innovative retail self-checkout hardware and software solutions, announced its ground-breaking “Friction Positive” campaign, signaling a paradigm shift in the landscape of A.I. for checkout technology with a focus on loss prevention and promoting checkout efficiency in the retail sector.
“At Fujitsu Frontech North America Inc., we are proud to redefine the narrative surrounding self-service technology. The Friction Positive campaign embodies our commitment to connecting people and technology, creating a shopping environment where positive friction becomes the driving force for unparalleled customer satisfaction and retail success”
This transformative initiative champions the idea that not all friction at checkout is detrimental; in fact, when strategically integrated, friction becomes a catalyst for positive change. At the forefront of this movement is Fujitsu’s commitment to leveraging A.I. technology to enhance the retail experience across enterprise operations and down to the customer experience, allowing retailers to manage the delicate balance between efficiency, improved security, and meaningful interactions.
Enhanced Experience:
We believe that positive friction enhances rather than hinders the self-checkout process. Utilizing advanced A.I. technology, Friction Positive appropriately applies friction during the self-service process and guides shoppers through a uniquely tailored customer journey, enriching the customer experience while offering an optimized level of assistance to speed shoppers’ engagement. By ensuring that the fusion of technology and human touch elevates the in-store experience, Friction Positive makes every visit as efficient as possible under the pressures of what could be a complex set of transactional hurdles.
Integrated Assistance:
Fujitsu’s commitment to Friction Positive extends to integrated assistance, where A.I. seamlessly collaborates with in-store attendants to target what feels like a less invasive level of support during unavoidable interventions. This dynamic synergy between technology-driven capabilities and human expertise ensures that every customer feels heard, valued, and assisted in their unique shopping requirements. And, we have not forgotten the needs of the self-checkout attendant – we’ve integrated techniques and tools that will make their difficult customer-facing tasks incrementally easier in support of the customer while protecting the bottom line of the retailer they represent.
Retail IQ:
Another integral component of Fujitsu’s Friction Positive campaign is Retail IQ, which emphasizes strategic insights and assisted support made possible by A.I. technology matched with our nearly 30 years of self-checkout experience. Unveiling usage patterns and engagement data empowers executives to make informed decisions that not only enhance their bottom line, but also elevate operational processes and drive overall business and operations strategy.
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Multi-phase Approach
Friction Positive features a strategic multi-phased approach for leveraging A.I. for retail technology. Phase One, which is available for retailers to integrate into both new and existing deployments now, delivers on all three pillars of the Friction Positive campaign by enabling features including: advanced customer enablement through self-correction of common issues/interventions, the ability to auto-delay certain interventions based on activity levels, attendant guidance based on priority ranking of transaction interventions, and more. With an emphasis on enhanced security supported by our consultancy, this initial phase pioneers a new era in loss prevention by seamlessly integrating features that act as a protective shield, safeguarding against theft while ensuring a positive shopping environment for both employees and customers.
Additional phases will introduce innovative new solutions and features focused on further enhancing customer experiences and retail capabilities, including: integration of our U-SCAN VersaMount with A.I. technology to support scan avoidance and ticket switching detection, a new feature for pre-alerting when potential high-theft/time-consuming conditions occur, flexible tiered security controls to give retailers options that meet their needs, and the capability to automatically halt or terminate a transaction when fraudulent activity persists.
“At Fujitsu Frontech North America Inc., we are proud to redefine the narrative surrounding self-service technology. The Friction Positive campaign embodies our commitment to connecting people and technology, creating a shopping environment where positive friction becomes the driving force for unparalleled customer satisfaction and retail success,” said Shuhei Oyake, President and CEO at Fujitsu Frontech North America Inc.